Turboden Enters UK Market With Two Organic Rankine Cycle Biomass Power Plants

EAST HARTFORD, Conn., May 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Turboden recently entered the UK market with awards for two biomass-fueled Combined Cooling, Heat and Power plants for two of the country's most well known institutions - British Sky Broadcasting and Heathrow Airport. Both will receive clean, carbon-neutral power by utilizing Turboden Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbogenerators. Turboden is a Pratt & Whitney Power Systems company, and Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.

"Traditionally, Turboden has developed projects in which ORC units were suitable for district-heating in small or medium-sized villages," says Paolo Bertuzzi, general manager, Turboden. "With these larger scale trigeneration projects, Turboden is delivering cost-saving renewable energy solutions for some of the UK's most prominent institutions. We're proud to now be able to enter the UK market." 

British Sky Broadcasting Ltd (BSkyB) is a public satellite broadcasting company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is the largest pay-TV broadcaster in the United Kingdom with over 10 million subscribers. BSkyB is developing a 1 MW CCHP plant as an integral part of its carbon cutting emissions plans for its new studio, editing and transmission and data facility.

The main BSkyB campus in Hounslow, West London, will receive 32 tons of wood chips per day from local businesses within 25 miles of the facility.  The wood products are burned at temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius to heat thermal oil systems, which drives the 1 MW ORC turbine. Lower-grade heat is then recovered to create chilled water for cooling and the remaining heat is used for hot water.

One of the key initial objectives of the ORC plant was to offset at least 20 percent of the new facility's C02 emissions, but the plant has doubled this to up to 40 percent since it was installed last December, according to Steve Holford, head of engineering projects and energy at BSkyB.

BAA Airports Limited, which operates six airports in the UK, including London Heathrow, is installing Turboden's second ORC plant in the UK. London Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world, serving some 180 destinations in more than 90 countries. Turboden's biomass-fuelled CCHP ORC unit at London Heathrow will use clean wood waste to produce 1.8 MW of electricity and 8MW of thermal heat and cooling to Terminals T2a and T2b, and heat only to Terminal T5. Construction of the Heathrow plant is almost complete and start-up is expected by summer.

Similar trigenerative CCHP ORC plants have recently been installed at a public hospital in Every, France, and another CCHP ORC plant is now underway for a five-star hotel in Poland.

"At a time when the UK government is formally assessing the potential of renewable electricity and heating technologies in the country through 2030, we are showcasing the flexibility and cost effectiveness of biomass-fuelled plants," added Bertuzzi. "These projects provide a significant example of how biomass can contribute to meeting the country's renewable energy goals."

Turboden's ORC technology utilizes heat from several sources including biomass, geothermal, concentrated solar power, and by recovering heat from industrial processes, engines and gas turbines. The technology is unique, in that it uses an organic fluid instead of steam to drive a turbo-generator, which can range in nominal output from about 1 to 10 MW and up. The system employs a closed-cycle process that uses relatively low- to moderate-temperature heat sources to generate electricity. These ORC systems are driven by a simple evaporation process and are entirely enclosed, which means they produce virtually no emissions.

Turboden, a Pratt & Whitney Power Systems company, is an Italian company and a global leader in the design, manufacture, and servicing of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbogenerators, which harness heat to generate electrical power from renewable sources, including solar energy, biomass, geothermal energy and waste heat. Turboden and Pratt & Whitney combined have over 250 ORC power plants sold in more than 20 countries and offers standard turbogenerators from 1 to 10 MW and up. Turboden is a specialist in ORC technology. www.turboden.it

Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and commercial building industries.

Follow Pratt & Whitney Power Systems on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PWPowerSystems

SOURCE Pratt & Whitney

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